The Bullet
by RedHood97
Summary: The Batman saves a member of the League and contemplates why he did so ad would continue to do so. Disclaimer: i own nothing, everything here belongs to DC Comics.


The bullet leaves the gun, travelling hundreds of miles per second. Its target didn't even realize that it was heading towards them. The Caped Crusader began sprinting towards the intended target; they couldn't be allowed to die. The repercussions could affect the entire world. There was only one way to stop the assassination attempt now. Take the bullet himself.

If the target died then the morality of the League would shatter causing them to lose sight of their goals and seek tyrannical dominion over the planet, destabilizing the governments of the world and causing the downfall of free speech. They would become worse than the monsters that they fought on a daily basis. He wouldn't allow that to happen, even if it cost him his life.

The target in question was currently engaged in combat with Mirror Master, a villain capable of disappearing into mirrors and appearing out of different mirrors. It was keeping the target in question occupied and distracted, added to by the number of civilians that he kept taking time out of the fight to save due to the falling debris caused by the fight between Wonder Woman and Giganta.

The bullet currently hurtling towards the target was fired by Deadshot, a master assassin who had been hired to kill the occupied hero. The bullet would soon hit the target, he was 5 feet away. He leaped through the air, time seemingly slowing down as he blocked the path of the bullet.

He fell to the ground heavily as the bullet tore through his Kevlar and abdominal muscles and smashed through one of ribs. It then ripped through the muscle and flesh on his back, narrowly missing his vertebrae, and exited his Kevlar just as it had entered it.

He hit the ground with an agonizing grunt. He managed to observe where the conflict was and saw that no one had noticed. He needed to get away, if the target saw that Batman had taken a hit for him and was injured then that could cause a wave of depression that could hit the League just as hard as his death would have.

He reached up to his comm. Link and managed to say, "Emergency Teleporter Protocol 001 Activation Code Batman 02. 91939 Enter." Blue light enveloped him just as the other two heroes finished fighting their opponents and turned towards where he had been. Wonder Woman spotted Deadshot's position and streaked towards him, easily blocking the shots that were fired at her.

He appeared in the eerie darkness of the dank Cave that he had called home. As soon as he fully appeared, he fell to the ground, wincing in pain as he did so. He staggered to his Medical Bay and slowly began to patch himself up (Alfred was currently visiting family in England and would not be back for 2 weeks).

An hour later and his stomach and back were fully covered and bound up and he had even given himself a small blood transfusion to top up what he had lost. He then went to his computer and began to update his reports about that mission, analyzing every detail that he could remember and viewing CCTV footage to pick up on what he hadn't noticed. He would need to delete that. It clearly showed him jumping in front of a bullet intended for… for the Flash.

He quickly stored a copy in his archives before thoroughly erasing it and then covering his tracks. He then called for pickup from the Watchtower to cover his shift of monitor duty. He sighed, he hadn't slept in nearly two days and monitor duty is usually a twelve-hour shift unless an emergency specifically required him.

When he arrived on the Watchtower he quickly glared at the civilian staff that were in the room, causing them to leave him alone and in peace. He sat in the main control chair and quickly began familiarizing himself with the screens in front of and around him. Nothing apocalyptic so far. Nothing at all out of the ordinary. The League looked like it would get a quiet night for a change. Huh, Kent was right, he mused. Miracles do happen.

5 hours into his shift the Flash came in, babbling on about something to Wonder Woman, who actually seemed genuinely interested in what the Flash was saying. They sat down at one of the terminals nearby before Wonder Woman noticed him sitting there and said, "Oh! Hello, Batman. How long have you been on duty?" Batman dryly chuckled under his breath before muttering "Close to twenty years." Wonder Woman appeared confused by this statement before realizing what he meant, both she and the Flash chuckled before stopping when they realized the source of their amusement.

The Batman had made a joke; well, a sarcastic comment at any rate. The Flash joked, "Wow, Bats, you're getting old! Have you really been doing this for twenty years?" The Batman swiveled around in the chair to face them properly before replying, "Yes, although I have been training to do this since I was eight years old. I started being Batman when I was twenty-five years old. Why? How long have you been in the hero business?"

Batman was genuinely interested in the answer, it was an unknown section in his files that needed filling in, he had the previous Flashes on record but not this one. "Me? Well, when the Imperium invaded I had been a hero for… 2 or 3 years. That was 3 years ago, so about 5 or 6 years or so. How long have the others been heroes?"

He asked Batman, knowing that, without a doubt, Batman would know the answer. "Green Lantern's been doing it for about 11 or 12 years; J'onn and Wonder Woman," here he paused and nodded towards Diana. "Have both been heroes in this world for 3 years; Hawkgirl has been a hero on this planet for about 4 years and Superman has been in the game for nearly 15 years."

The Flash and Wonder Woman had stared at him for a moment before saying, "We always thought that Superman had been a hero longer than you." Batman shook his head saying, "No, I was a vigilante 5 years before he even thought about putting on the cape. Although, he was openly accepted before I was."

Wonder Woman again appeared confused by his statement, "What do you mean 'accepted'? Did they not recognize your necessary and noble work in Gotham?" Batman smirked a little before dropping it and saying, "I meant accepting me as being real and actually existing. Before that, most people considered me to be an urban legend. A story created by the police to spread fear amongst the Mobs that used to run Gotham in those days."

Flash questioned, "Used to? What happened?" He was taking advantage of Batman's unusually chatty mood. Usually if he asked a question he would just be glared at until he was quiet. "What happened was me. I spent the first few years of my career destabilizing the Mob; spreading fear and rumors among the lower ranks so that it spread to the top, being exaggerated and distorted until I became a dark legend whispered about in the dead of night. Its one of the main reasons why petty crime in Gotham is so low, the remnants of the Mob still remember the stories and manage to keep them well circulated."

As Batman finished speaking he shifted and then winced in pain as he jostled his stitches. Both heroes noticed and sprang to their feet and rushing forward. "Bats? What happened? Are you alright?" Flash said this in less than a few seconds.

Batman grimaced and nodded and unconsciously said, "Just jostled my stitches." They both became wide-eyed. "What stitches?" Wonder Woman cried. He grimaced again before deciding that honesty would be easier and less time consuming that coming up with a lie. Plus, she had a knack for being able to tell when someone was lying.

"The stitches that I got from that battle this morning." He said carefully, knowing that as soon as he said it that they would both begin to bombard him with questions that he would have to answer, again truthfully.

He then related to them what had happened during that battle. How he had defeated Shade and then noticed the laser sights aimed at the Flash's exposed back and began running. Being careful not to distract the young hero from his own battle against Mirror Master.

"You need to go to the Infirmary." Wonder Woman said. Batman shook his head and said, "No, I cleaned it, I stitched it and I covered it. There's nothing more that can be done." She picked up on what he said immediately. "What do you mean, _you_ patched it up?" Batman faced her fully and replied, "I mean that I teleported to the Cave, and dealt with my wound on my own, just as I have with hundreds of others and just as I will do with hundreds of other wounds. Now, drop it." His tone left no room for argument. They both proceeded to leave the room.

Just before the Flash left the room, he turned around and said, "Hey, Bats? I just wanted to say… thanks. If it wasn't for you I would be dead. So, thank you." The Batman didn't reply, just continued typing on a screen; the Flash smiled, that was probably the only answer he would ever get from the Bat but that didn't mean he didn't care about him or any of them. He had demonstrated time and again that he was willing to die so that the League could live. He just didn't like discussing it. He smiled and then zipped out of the room.

Batman smiled to himself as he was left alone. The kid could be an absolute idiot, but he, and the rest of the team, deserved saving and deserved to live. If that required him to die in exchange, then so be it. He would risk his life for the League. They were needed. He was not. He sighed to himself and continued working for the remainder of his shift, alone and tired. He then beamed down to the Cave and readied himself for patrol. Time to wage war against the criminals of Gotham. Just like every night.


End file.
